Washington: Astronomers in the US have discovered seven new dwarf galaxies using a new ‘homemade’ telescope.
The telescope, which is made by stiching together telephoto lenses, helped scientists at the Yale University in discovering the celestial surprises that were previously overlooked because of their diffused nature.
The newly discovered galaxies may yield important insights into the dark matter and galaxy evolution, while possibly signalling the discovery of a new class of objects in the space.
Allison Merritt of Yale University, US, said that they got exciting result in their first images itself.
“It was very exciting. It speaks about the quality of the telescope,” said Allison Merritt.
Pieter van Dokkum, chairman of Yale’s astronomy department, designed the robotic telescope with astronomer Roberto Abraham from the University of Toronto.
Their Dragonfly Telephoto Array uses eight telephoto lenses with special coatings that suppress internally scattered light. This makes the telescope uniquely adept at detecting the very diffused, low surface brightness of the newly discovered galaxies.